DayofPal– Israel’s High Court issued a ruling on Wednesday ordering the eviction of two Palestinian families, Shweiki and Odeh, from their homes in the Batan Al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, located just south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The families have been given 30 days to vacate the properties, which are targeted by Israeli settler organizations seeking to expand control over Palestinian homes in the area.
Among those facing eviction is 79-year-old Asmahan Shweiki, a lifelong resident of Silwan.
Shweiki has endured decades of hardship under Israeli occupation, having lost two of her sons to Israeli gunfire, her son Zahri was killed in 1990 in the Al-Muraghah area of Silwan, and her other son, Nizar, was killed in 2000 inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Her husband also passed away in recent years.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, the eviction order was originally issued in 2020 but was frozen by the Israeli attorney general.
Recently, however, the case was abruptly reopened and assigned to a judge known for his far-right ideological leanings, who issued the eviction ruling without hearing full legal arguments from the families’ defense.
Batan Al-Hawa is among the most heavily targeted neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, where settler organizations, with direct backing from Israeli authorities, have intensified efforts to take over Palestinian properties.
These moves are part of a broader policy of forced displacement and demographic engineering in the Holy City.
The latest court decision follows a series of settler-related developments in the area. Last month, the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality announced the near completion of a new sports complex in the Ma’ale HaZeitim settlement, built on confiscated land in the Ras al-Amud area of Silwan.
The complex, expected to officially open in 2026, is described as a “safe and comfortable space for young settlers living in the heart of Arab neighborhoods,” a move widely seen as an effort to normalize settler presence in East Jerusalem.
Ma’ale HaZeitim was first established in 1997 under then-mayor Ehud Olmert, following the seizure of land owned by the Palestinian Ghoul family.
Since then, dozens of Jewish families have moved into homes taken from Palestinians, entrenching the settlement’s foothold in the area.
Additionally, on Wednesday, the municipality inaugurated a new public park on land belonging to Silwan residents, naming it “Moshe Arens Park” after a former Israeli defense and foreign minister with ties to the pre-state Irgun militia, notorious for its role in violent attacks against Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba.
This park is the ninth of its kind established on Palestinian land since October 7, 2023, as part of a broader effort to Judaize Jerusalem and encircle the Al-Aqsa Mosque with settler and municipal projects.
Local and international rights organizations have condemned these measures as part of an ongoing strategy of displacement, annexation, and settlement expansion, which violate international law and threaten the fabric of Palestinian life in Jerusalem.
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